Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto, the powerhouse bass and drums of the group King Crimson for a few decades, bring that tradition to all their playing. Levin plays the Chapman Stick, from which the band takes it's name. Having bass and guitar strings, the Chapman Stick functions at times like two instruments. Markus Reuter plays his self-designed touch style guitar -- again covering much more ground than a guitar or a bass. And Mastelotto's drumming encompasses not just the acoustic kit, but a unique electronic setup too, allowing him to add loops, samples, percussion, and more. New studio album Prog Noir was released in October 2016, and the band is touring the USA and Canada in August/September 2017, and in 2018 will perform at the Cruise To The Edge 2018 and in Central America and The Caribbean (with special guest David Cross, ex-King Crimson),, and in Europe in March 2018.

TONY LEVIN - Born in Boston, Tony Levin started out in classical music, playing bass in the Rochester Philharmonic. Then moving into jazz and rock, he has had a notable career, recording and touring with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Yes, Alice Cooper, Gary Burton, Buddy Rich and many more. He has also released 5 solo CDs and three books. In addition to touring with Stick Men, he is currently a member of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel Band, and jazz bands Levin Brothers and L'Image. His popular website, tonylevin.com, featured one of the web's first blogs, and has over 4 million visits.

PAT MASTELOTTO - Very rarely does a drummer go on to forge the most successful career on the demise of their former hit band. Phil Collins and Dave Grohl have managed it, so too has Pat Mastelotto, a self taught drummer from Northern California, who has also been involved with pushing the envelope of electronic drumming. Pat has spent a lifetime jumping genres from pop, to prog, to electronica to world music with -- among others -- Mr. Mister, XTC, David Sylvian, The Rembrandts, Kimmo Pohjonen, and for the last 20 years with King Crimson.

MARKUS REUTER - Markus is a composer, guitarist, and producer. Initially trained as a pianist, he subsequently studied Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft and learned to play the Chapman Stick, later moving onto the U8 Touch Guitar. Reuter has released several solo recordings and worked extensively with other musicians. He is one of the core members of the experimental band Centrozoon, is half of the duo Tuner (with Pat Mastelotto) and was also a member of Europa String Choir. Reuter has collaborated with Ian Boddy, Robert Rich, No-Man singer Tim Bowness, and many others.

Winner of the Independent Music Award, in the Live Performance Album category for his latest triple live album "Encore" (2014), "Rose d'Or" of the Montreux Festival for his first album, "Près de Paris" (Switzerland, 1976), "Best World Music Guitar Player " by the readers of Guitar Player Magazine (USA, 2008), Pierre Bensusan is recognized as one of the premier musicians of our time.

If "World Music" is music that pays tribute to the spirit of a collection of human beings through distinct rhythms, traditional instruments and harmonic colors, French-Algerian guitarist, singer and composer Pierre Bensusan can be recognized as one of the most eloquent and world musicians today.

Born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957, when France was decolonizing its Empire, Pierre Bensusan's family moved to Paris when he was 4. He began formal studies on piano at the age of 7 and at 11 taught himself guitar. Influenced in those early days by the folk revival blooming in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan began first to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond.

At 17 he signed his first recording contract, and one year later his first album "Pres de Paris" won the Grand Prix du Disque upon his debut at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland.

Described by the L.A. Times as "one of the most unique and brilliant acoustic guitar veterans in the world music scene today", Pierre's name became synonymous with contemporary acoustic guitar genius, long before the terms New Age, New Acoustic Music or World Music were invented. He has the ability to make a single guitar sound like an entire band as he brings the audience on a mesmerizing musical journey. And yet, Bensusan is more than what any musician or music lover expects from a guitarist. He is a composer as well as a bilingual and a brave improvisational vocalist, melding whistles and resonant low notes with something like his own scat technique.

There is a sense of something both playful and serious in his work, an unparalleled sense of freedom in his compositions and his improvisations. His "manner" of playing defies classification - crossing world, classical, jazz, traditional, folk and more. None can be isolated as simply "Brazilian", "Arabic" or "French"; rather, they represent our world in its current state, a world sharing itself, fusing cultures together in ways we have never experienced. A great embassador of peace. Not to be missed!

The group formed in 1992, and quickly found wide exposure, releasing a vinyl EP in 1993 and touring with acts such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, The Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys. The group released their first LP, Splay (recorded at Steve Albini's Chicago studio) in 1996, and a second album, Lula Divinia the next year. Sub Pop took notice, and released a 7" single of the group's songs "Sleep it Off" and "Half Empty". Following this the band toured with Hum and Swervedriver in 1998. A third full-length, Starless, was released on a label run by members of The Descendents, Owned and Operated, in 2000. A fourth LP, The Egg, would follow before the group broke up in 2002. This was recorded and produced at Matt Talbot's recording studio.

The Appleseed Collective is poised to become the new sound of string music. Riding the wave of the bluegrass revival beyond newgrass and into a strange new genre-bending territory, they explore the full range of dark and light, old and new, composition and improvisation in a deeply theatrical stage show that transports audiences through time.

The sounds of The Appleseed Collective are as diverse as the personalities that create them. Violinist/Mandolinist Brandon Worder-Smith grew up steeped in a rich rural Bluegrass and Irish fiddle culture. Driven to explore beyond the boundaries of tradition, he set off on foot to hitchhike around America searching for his musical kin. After a year and a half of wandering he stumbled across Guitarist Andrew Brown back in Ann Arbor MI, where the band now hangs their collective hats when not on the road. Downtown Andrew Brown, fast-talking vintage garb peddler and son of a Motown session musician had just returned from New Orleans with a piece of that dixieland sound. He gifted long-time friend and funk/rock drummer Vince Russo with a washboard, whose penchant for ripping percussion solos and untamed showmanship were only further enhanced, and the first incarnation of the band was born. Later the boys would join forces with bassist Eric O'Daly, whose passion for Indian Classical music and introspective yet fiery Irish nature would complete the Genre-Bending sound of The Appleseed Collective.

As a triune of songwriters, O'Daly, Brown, and Worder-Smith craft tunes from the sublime to the darkly evocative. In the space of their new 5 song EP, The Tour Tapes they swing from dim club storytelling swagger to rich vocal harmony, from hot club hot licks to spacey ambience, from old Irish reels to modern American indie. Despite the diversity of influences, The Appleseed Collective's sound is unmistakably it's own.

BRAND X are recognized as true musical pioneers, as they helped create an entire musical genre and influenced a broad spectrum of musicians and bands, from Phish to Dream Theatre. They are unrivaled in their creativity, originality and approach. Their contemporaries include bands such as Weather Report, Headhunters, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jaco Pastorious and Chick Corea, all crafting a unique blend of Jazz, Rock, and Ethic influences now widely known by fans worldwide as Fusion.

Many claim it's BRAND X's unique combination of masterful chops mixed with their childlike melodies that make so special. Some musicians play from inside their own world, but John Goodsall, Percy Jones, Kenwood Dennard and the guys from BRAND X play from their own universe! REUNION: After years of rumors of a potential reunion, it is finally happening. Three of the four main members came together recently in New York, and according to sources present at the rehearsals, listening to them play was "...like traveling back in time to the legendary 'Livestock' album -- there was no question this was BRAND X! Their sound was uncannily identical to the BRAND X of 'Livestock' -- and that in itself speaks volumes"

Pundamonium is a slam-style pun contest. One by one, 15 contestants make puns based on prompts. Then they do it again.

Each contestant is immediately judged by five members of the audience, who have been selected before the show to be judges. They rank each punner on a scale of 1 to 10, often with hilariously long decimals and other commentary.

As 2015 began, I had somehow been on the road for the fastest, longest two years of my life. I had kicked the tires hard touring in support of my album Traveling Alone. I had recorded and toured with classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein. My friend Andrew Bird asked me to be in his old time band the Hands of Glory, so I pretended I was a member of the Carter family on guitar, and I watched him like a hawk to make sure he felt fully free; singing harmony with Andrew is not unlike flying. Suddenly, I was turning 40, getting divorced, and scared out of my mind. So I decided to take a year off the road to see what would happen to me if I just stopped touring... On a friend's ranch in Marfa, Texas, in the middle of the high plains without a car headlight in sight, I did just that, and when I did, I started to do what I always do: the humble work of marking life by writing.

On the ranch, I wrote about the long straight roads in west Texas: the ones that make sense, that make you feel like what is behind you is indeed behind you and that good things are up ahead. 'Wait For Me' is a wish that life would run like that. Watching the ranch hands keep their daily routine, I wrote about keeping my own head down, pressing on, and the way that love persists and pushes forward no matter what happens, 'Love Soldiers On.' I watched birds learning to fly and bathe in the driveway dust at dusk in the front yard and wrote 'Icarus' about what they taught me. In my California cabin, I wrote every morning and hiked every afternoon, up the mountains to the East and along the rocky coast, farther than I had ever hiked, one exhausted foot after the other. 'Heartache is an Uphill Climb' began in the red mud on one particularly impossible incline. Once, having hiked farther than I realized, dark fell on me. The white lilies in a meadow began to glow like evening dresses as the moon rose in the changing light. 'Proclamation Bones' is a tribute to that unexpected beauty, to nature's secret nightlife. On return to NYC with Raymond Carver's All of Us: The Collected Poems in hand, his poem 'My Boat' leapt up like lightning; it wanted to be sung. In a hungover moment of joy coming out of a subway, 'Something Came Over Me' seeded itself. And the heavy sadness of memory washing over me as I looked out at the East River became 'Eastern Light'.

Look, everyone knows that album bios are usually full of crap. How about this: This album weathered no doubt, Marlon Brando's ghost played bass and a fire-breathing dragon co-wrote the songs! Let's be clear about something -- What made my time off special was that I had a regular writing routine. I was private. I followed my heart and my craft. The story of being a writer is the story of being devoted over a long time. What I hate most about bios is that they trade the small virtue of the writing life for pretending that artists and albums spring forth fully formed, trimming the tale to fit the spotlight. I'm more comfortable being real about things. I took my life and synthesized it through my writing with an intensity that no one but the birds saw but that hopefully you can feel. And life continued. Let the real story here be that there is love and beauty in the mess of dedication.

And life did continue. In Fall, my friend MC Taylor asked me to be a part of his new Hiss Golden Messenger album. About the same time, to my delight and surprise, I realized my boyfriend and I were expecting a child. I performed with HGM just as I began to show; MC and his band talked on and on about how North Carolina was a place you could actually raise a child AND be a musician. My roots and my friends pulled. In an airport, I bumped into my friend Sam Beam. He said I could send him my songs, and when I did and he said, "I can tell you've been working hard on your writing," I was filled with the gratefulness which comes from being heard. I couldn't believe he wanted in on the record making party, along with my favorite musicians, for four days because that was what I could afford. One long night before leaving for the studio, I stared at the ceiling of my NYC apartment. The leaves, the streetlights, and the sirens drew a shadow vine. I cried for dreams that were gone, and I gathered myself for those to come. I recorded in Los Angeles six months pregnant and then set off for home to figure out what a onesie was. I showed up back in my hometown knocked about a little by the world thinking maybe my life was a country song, but maybe it was a really good country song.

What strikes me most when I am writing these days is the changing nature of things. Sometimes sex matters deeply, sometimes family eclipses all; sometimes aloneness is hell, sometimes it is a refuge. Sometimes hometowns are constricting; sometimes they are a sight for sore eyes. We do our damnedest. For all the times we are watered down and compromise, we can become rigid and impossible just as easily. We right ourselves as best we can and carry on. It is a loose thread that holds us best together in this life. Not too tight, not too planned, enough give to stand what tangles us but ties us nonetheless. Ties us to each other in some unseen pattern, to our actions, to the songs that come out of us, to the seasons that pass through us. We press on, love persists, and we must trust the unknowable pattern we are making. My little daughter is sleeping beside me now, and what I hope for her is what I will tell you now. May these threads be joyful; not heavy chains, but light like wings, like starlight, like laughter. Empty your pockets of stones, that light-hearted you may go (for you must go), with the stitch of the world, into the stitch of the world.

Haken is a London-based progressive metal band formed in 2007 by To-Mera guitarist and keyboardist Richard Henshall and his two school friends Ross Jennings (vocals) and Matthew Marshall (guitar). The band completed their lineup with a keyboardist they met on an online forum, Peter Jones, Jones' close friend and drummer Raymond Hearne, and To-Mera guitarist Thomas MacLean became the band's bassist. Henshall mentioned on some occasions that "Haken" was the name of a fictional character he and some friends came up with in their school days, under the influence of alcohol or weed.

With 16 albums and over 2,300 live shows spanning a 24-year career, Carbon Leaf's independent music and spirit continue to resonate with its fans into 2017.

Blending folk, Celtic, bluegrass, Americana and rock traditions into what the group calls Ether-Electrified Porch Music, the Virginia quintet's songs of love, life, heartbreak and landscape are independently written, recorded and produced from their home studio in Richmond.

After 5 years of heavy touring and recording, Carbon Leaf reduced it's 2016 road schedule to focus on some alternative projects, including the release of Nothing Rhymes With Woman, the third and final re-recorded album originally released through their formal record label in 2009. Along with completing new versions of Indian Summer (2004) and Love Loss Hope Repeat (2006), the band's goal of regaining 100% ownership of their music catalogue was achieved.

Stiff Little Fingers were formed in 1977 in Belfast, Ireland. Along with the likes of the Clash, Sex Pistols, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Undertones, Sham 69, Stranglers, et al --Stiff Little Fingers were at the forefront of the punk movement. They wrote initially about their own lives, growing up at the height of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, in songs like "Suspect Device" and "Wasted Life". In November of '77, they released those two songs on their own Rigid Digits label, and sent a copy to BBC RadioOne DJ John Peel, who started playing it every night.

These were the first of what became SLF's signature style: lyrics that meld the personal and political, music that combines the energy of punk with infectious hooks, and delivery that rings of honesty and commitment. In 1979 they became the first band ever to hit the UK top 20 album charts on an independent label with their debut Inflammable Material. The album chronicles the band's anger and frustration at "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland, and calls on youth to create their own reality.

Over the years, their live shows continued to be special events of energy and power. Their studio albums demonstrate their passion and anger, each in its own way. In '94 they released the Get a Life LP. The album helped renew interest in SLF just as newer bands that sited them as a major influence, such as Bad Religion, Sugar, Rancid and Therapy, were coming to prominence. In August 2003, Stiff Little Fingers released their ninth studio album, Guitar and Drum, which includes a moving tribute to Joe Strummer, entitled "Strummerville".

After many studio albums and countless tours, Stiff Little Fingers find themselves more in demand than ever. They are currently working on a new album, and many of the new songs have been debuted at live gigs, with tremendous response from fans. With song titles like Trail of Tears, My Dark Places and Liar's Club covering topics such as the recent economic collapse, Jake's personal struggle with depression, and continuing racism in the west. Jake has said, "You've probably worked out by now, I don't do "comedy" songs !!" But the songs continue to inspire fans old and new. Countless people have already contacted Jake to say that "My Dark Places" gave them the strength to tell others about theirown bouts with depression.

Though focused on their new material, they always play the old favorites at gigs. Jake said, "You have to strike a balance. The difficulty with a band like ourselves is to try not make it sound like a cabaret band. Obviously, it'd be very easy to go, 'Hey, here's another old one you may remember.' A lot of the old songs the audience greet like old friends. I suppose it's the same as any band that's been around for any length of time. And yes, there are nights that we don't particularly want to play "Alternative Ulster" or "Suspect Device" because we've heard them 'til they're coming out our ears. But there's always the possibility that somebody out there has never seen the band before, never heard them.

"Using the band's rich musical foundation as a building block, the time has come to bring the newest chapter of the band's music to the world. The new songs, penned over the last decade, show a definite musical growth in the band. The result is the band's latest release --No Going Back was released in March 2014.

Bobby Whitlock represents the true southern blues/soul singer. Born in Memphis he was the first white artist to be signed to the Stax Hip label at the tender age of 16. Taken under the wings of Steve Cropper and Donald (Duck) Dunn at the time.

In 1969 Bobby left Stax and went to California to become the first "friend" in the group Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. For a short time in Europe, the guitar line up consisted of Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Dave Mason. It was during this time that Bobby became friends with Eric Clapton.

After leaving Delaney & Bonnie, Bobby joined Eric Clapton where they began to write together, becoming a formidable writing team and eventually recording Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs which is now celebrating its 40th year and is considered to be one of the most influential and great records in the history of rock-n- roll..The rest is of course music history.

Meanwhile CoCo had begun her career in London England. She took the road and played across Europe including Germany, Italy and France and back home in England. After nearly a decade in Europe, CoCo moved back to the United States residing in her home state of California, Los Angeles to be precise. She met and later married Delaney Bramlett.

During those years with Delaney, she produced and co/produced many records including her own solo record "First Fruit" which came out in 2010, with ex Delaney Bramlett featuring many songs written by the two. Bobby met CoCo Carmel after her marriage ended with Delaney in 2001. They immediately got to work and began writing and singing and recording and performing.

Beginning in the U.S., CoCo and Bobby played in New Jersey, New York, Alabama and Nashville, and a slew of radio stations. They have also toured various places around the world including Monaco, Geneva Switzerland, France and to Bangalore India to headline a Blues Festival. All the time CoCo producing record after record including the latest "Carnival". The live record comes complete with a red hot band, all top musicians hailing from Austin.

In 2011 Bobby's autobiography "Bobby Whitlock A Rock-n- Roll Autobiography" was released and has been a number one top rated book in rock music on Amazon.

With Bobby's incredible historical History, it is no wonder the past is constantly calling. In 2013 Light in The Attic re-released the newly mastered solo records of Bobby's appropriately titled "Where There's a Will There's a Way". It has been receiving great reviews worldwide and is available online and at stores around the world.

As 2015 rang in, so did a wonderful DVD/Blu Ray Documentary "The Road to Austin" featuring Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Stephen Bruton, Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel. Their performance on the show with an audience of 20,000 ("Layla" and "Why Does Love Got to be so Sad" was superb, as is the entire DVD. The DVD is available online and some outlets in Texas.

This year Bobby will be releasing his first solo record in over fifteen years, produced by Rob Fraboni (The Last Waltz, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, The Band, John Lennon, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker and more).

Rik Emmett gained international recognition as the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist with Triumph. The adjectives 'prolific' and 'eclectic' frequently pop up in Rik's profiles, after five decades in the biz. Following over a dozen platinum albums from his Triumph years, he produced 19 more as an indie, ranging from rock to blues to jazz to folk to classical. International notoriety earned him entry into three Canadian Halls of Fame, a star on the Walk of Fame in his hometown of Mississauga, and he picked up a few 'Best Guitarist' awards in various style categories from different organizations along the way. Author of a GUITAR PLAYER magazine column for over a dozen years, the resulting compilation instruction book, "For The Love of Guitar", recently landed at #4 in Shawn Persinger's review of "The 50 Greatest Guitar Books". As a music educator, Mr. E. remains humbly proud of his long-standing inclusion on the heavily-respected Humber College faculty, where he's taught Songwriting, Music Business and Directed Studies; and he's also been Artistic Director of the Songstudio Songwriting Workshop every summer for the past 12 years. This show will be an acoustic duo performance with Dave Dunlop.

Meet & Greet with Rik Emmett and Dave Dunlop will take place after the show. Rik & Dave will be happy to sign up to two items, and you will also have an opportunity to be in a photo, taken with your own camera or cell phone.

PHUN is headed back to Milwaukee! The band will return to Shank Hall for the second time in 2017, and what a year it has been. The band has been playing in Milwaukee for many years but seems to have finally found a home in Shank Hall.

The venue famously references the movie and fictional band Spinal Tap. In the movie, Shank Hall was a fictional space that Spinal Tap played while in Milwaukee.

Tickets are on sale now are available via TicketWeb. By advance will call tickets and save a few bucks. Sorry about the "convenience charge." That's why we lowered the price of advance tickets from $10 to $8. We expect a large turnout, and advance tickets will assure you are not turned away.